artventures

A twenty year old photographer & digital artist who aims to enter the world or business and marketing, eventually.

[digitalchloe]

Week 4 (July 9 to 12, 2018)

July 9, 2018 (Monday)

Today wasn’t a very eventful day. Our supervisor had a meeting in the morning so we were told that we could go to work much later than usual, when he’s already at the office. I then spent the morning in MCHS, visiting my old teachers and catching up with them. It was fun seeing them after several years! I really miss my high school so much. Anyway, when I was already driving on the way to work, while stuck in traffic, I received a text saying that we could just work from home instead for the rest of the day due to the typhoon. So I called up my mom and told her I’ll stay in Coffee Bean in Greenhills while waiting for her to pick up my siblings since I have work things to do. I just edited the photos that we shot last week and I’m kind of having a hard time due to the inconsistent lighting. I’ll focus on the editing more tomorrow and I hope I’ll finally be able to get it!

July 10, 2018 (Tuesday)

My lola woke me up today, asking me if I could go pick up my siblings today. I think she thought I didn’t have work, but I told her I did so I had to decline. Although when I went back upstairs to my room after talking to lola, I received a text from Sir Jay that he’s just going to send us our tasks through email for today since the typhoon is still here. Since my mom is also working from home for the day, I asked her if she wanted to go out and stay in a coffee shop and just work there. She agreed, so we went to Coffee Bean in Greenhills (again! Even the same long table where I stayed yesterday.) I was really excited because I rarely get to spend time with my mom now since I’ve been so busy with school. I then focused on editing the photos from last week and now, I’m more satisfied with the outcome of the photos. I just sent them to Sir Jay for approval, and I hope he likes them! After that, we’re down to the last few tasks for Mindfuse since we only have a few days left before we complete our hours for Internship. I’m most definitely going to miss Mindfuse but the 4 weeks we spend there would always be something I’m going to look back on.

July 11, 2018 (Wednesday)

I went straight to UPTC right after I finished my work yesterday and writing my journal entry for the day. It was an unexpected dinner date with two of my blockmates, Alice and Thea! We finally got the Frankie’s we’ve been craving for. We had so much fun catching up after weeks of not seeing each other due to our OJT. We even played in the parking lot as if we were grade schoolers before going home. Last night made me realize that my block has slowly turned into my comfort zone--where I can breathe and be myself completely. And although the night has come to an end, I’m definitely excited for the following weeks because we’re finally going to be back together. Anyway, today was uneventful at work. We just finished our last few tasks before we finally finish all our hours by tomorrow. At this point, I’m slowly starting to realize what I want my growing business to be when we finally make it into the real world after graduation. Initially, I said Mindfuse is everything I want C+B to be, but after 150+ hours, I realized that it’s not. But my goals are much clearer now, and I aim to get steps and steps closer to them during my last year of college. I’m down to the last day of my OJT tomorrow, and now I can’t wait to finally make it into the real world.

July 12, 2018 (Wednesday)

Today was our last day at Mindfuse. We finally finished rendering 160 hours of on-the-job training and it’s finally time for us to pack our things away and bring them back home. I made it a point to be earlier than usual today for that “just one last time” moment. Signing in at the lobby was also kind of sad because it’s going to be the last time the guards would call our attentions to log in. When I got inside the office, Sir Jay already had tasks set for us for the day, and honestly I was excited for them since digital typography has always been something I’ve been wanting to try. I was able to finish 6 studies and I’m glad Sir Jay liked them and I was able to finish it before the day ended. It was a little bit complicated to do due to the length of the words but I got through it! I’m also happy with the outcome. When Sir Jay returned our evaluation forms, he said that he was surprised how time just flew by and that we’re already done with our hours. It was a sad moment when we had to say goodbye to them, but Sir Jay said we’re welcome to visit anytime we want to.

Anyway, now that I have finished my internship, like I said yesterday, I’ve finally come to terms with what I want C+B Co. to be. I just want it to be a small, but established company. I don’t want to rent an entire floor for the company; I’m already happy with just one room aesthetically designed for a visual media company (complete with office tables, chairs, refrigerator, and of course, a studio). Moreover, I want  C+B to invest on gadgets and other materials that will help us grow not just as designers, but as professionals as well. No money should be wasted on things that would be of no benefit to our company. I aim for clients that are fun to work with--clients that know how to appreciate art.  I know that there will always be negative clients but I promise to see them as stepping stones for growth for us. I want us to never have dull days, and make every single work day as enjoyable as possible. Creative blocks will always be seen as time to relax and have fun, so that we could get back to work when we’re finally inspired again. Everything negative shall be seen as stepping stones and doors for growth. C+B Co. will not be fake, but will be as real as we can be. That’s only a few things I want for C+B Co. For now, we will work our way into the big world of the arts. I know this is just the beginning. We still have a long way to go and now I’m ready to face it all.

Internship has been an exciting experience. I can now say that I made the right choice when I wrote Bachelor of Applied Arts major in Visual Design over International Studies and Communication. I also made the right choice of staying instead of shifting.

Fourth year, I’m ready for you.

Chloe, signing off.

[digitalchloe]

Week 3 (July 2 to 6, 2018)

July 2, 2018 (Monday)

I can’t believe half of 2018 is already over! July has started and I can’t say it started well. I was startled with my alarm this morning and I was so clueless as to why my alarm went off. It wasn’t until a few minutes after that I realized we have work today. So I got up, checked on my dog, got ready for work, and dragged myself to work. I don’t know what’s up with me recently; I’m starting to lose motivation in everything and I really hope my enthusiasm for my passions won’t fade away altogether. When we got to work, we (the interns) consulted with each other regarding the portfolio and what we’ve all done. I was also about to skip lunch but I forced myself to get some food. Thankfully, being able to eat got me pumped up for the rest of the day after getting my favorite drink!. My afternoon, was thankfully, productive. I was able to finish a few pages (layouts?) for the page of The Gorgeous Mess and I GOT A THUMBS UP from Sir Jay! It feels good to get one because my mood has been pushing me down lately. Later in the afternoon, Sir Jay shared with us his experiences with his clients as a design agency owner and I was able to finally ask question I’ve been wanting to ask from the start (such as how to get clients and how to price correctly). He said that he’ll discuss all those things for tomorrow. I can’t wait for tomorrow now! Maybe I’ll wake up before my alarm goes off.

---

July 3, 2018 (Tuesday)

I only went to work for half of the day today since I had errands to do for the day. I was really excited to go to work today though since Sir Jay was scheduled to discuss more of the business side of design with us--something I’ve always been wanting to learn, hence me asking my MC profs a lot about it when I get the chance to. We spent a lot of time on this since I had so much questions! I also learned so much to the point that I feel like I’m ready to make my business grow altogether. After our discussion, we headed back to our stations and continued working on the Mindfuse portfolio page. I was getting really giddy because I was so excited to discuss  what I’ve just learned with my best friend slash business partner. Nevertheless, I made sure that I was still able to deliver despite me only spending half of the day at the office. I got so frustrated when I left though since Philippines traffic is the worst! Thankfully, after hours of sitting in traffic, I was able to finish my errands just before midnight. Tomorrow’s another day at work! Let’s see what’s on the tray for tomorrow.

---

July 4, 2018 (Wednesday)

Soooo, I was really sleepy when I got to work since I got home last night past midnight already. Today, we still continued to do the Mindfuse portfolio and I was finally able to finish the pages for The Gorgeous Mess. I’m just waiting for a few other files before I finally render and export all the pages. I’ve done two studies for both pages and I’m glad that my supervisor likes them. It’s also starting to get dragging since we’ve been doing the same thing for consecutive days now; I want something new to do. I want something challenging or something exciting other than layouting things. I really want to do something  that I’d look back on and say, “Hey, that was the favorite part of my internship.” I hope that /that/ moment is about to come soon since we’re more than halfway through our internship now.  Although on the other hand, my internship has been interesting for me so far because I’m finally figuring out how to run a design business--one that I really want to do in the future, after I graduate college.

---

July 5, 2018 (Thursday)

Again, I was sleepy when I got to the office today because we had to rush my mom to the Emergency Room last night. But thankfully, the doctors sent her home too last night. So today we were finally given a new task, to work on the wireframes of the websites of their clients. I was assigned to do the one for The Rockwell Club! This really got me excited because I go to the Rockwell Club a lot  (since we have a condo unit there) and I can finally say, “hey, I did something for Rockwell!”. It just really gives me a good and positive feeling. Although doing the wireframe was  a little hard because it’s something new to me. I know I asked for it though, so yay!  Why new? Because we usually go straight to the design without the wireframes. But with this task, I figured that it’s a lot faster to do wireframes first; we’re able to see the overall layout first before going into detail. So that’s about it for today! Tomorrow is full shoot day! Gotta get my camera, my memory cards, and batteries ready now!

---

July 6, 2018 (Friday)

It’s the FIRST Friday we’re at the office! Internship is turning into solid proof that I, as an art person, won’t be able to complete a full week of pure routine without getting burned out. I’ve known this ever since, but I told myself to give it a try first before totally crossing it off my list for when I finally get a job. I have always been the type of person who goes out on the field and do some work there, especially that I am a photographer. I guess sitting in the office for 8 hours a day would be fine, but I don’t think I’d survive the real world if I’d be doing that for 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month, and 12 months a year. I would always, always rather to go on spontaneous shoots and accept client bookings whenever they need me. Anyway, today was fun! We finally started shooting for Mindfuse’s portfolio and although it was challenging, it was extremely exciting and fun to do. I can’t wait to see my photos uploaded on the revamped Mindfuse website. I hope all of these would totally be worth it, and would be something I’d be proud of after I finish my hours. We’re down to the last few days and I can’t believe it’s been so fast! Honestly, I don’t think I’m ready to leave Mindfuse yet despite my burnouts and breakdowns these past few weeks. Mindfuse is finally turning into a place I think I would want to stay in.

[digitalchloe]

Week 2 (June 25 to 29, 2018)

June 25, 2018 (Monday)

Today I realized that we stopped following our Instagram feed guide for June. I’m kind of disappointed about it since Alice and I worked hard on it, almost even contemplating about the adjustments to be made when a post is not approved or made. But it’s okay since today, we also thought of posting something related to #PRIDE. YAY! It made me really excited to do something in relation to Pride month since it’s a time to celebrate love in all its forms. I was also very surprised with myself for being able to come up with a really nice illustration of Ellen Degeneres. It made me want to make vector illustration part of my top skills! It’s the first time in a very long time that I’m actually satisfied with my artwork. I’m really glad it turned out well. We also scheduled shoots for this week so I really do hope that this time around, we’ll follow our schedule! Except that the Rockwell Atletica shoot was cancelled, so that saddened me.

---

June 26, 2018 (Tuesday)

Super excited to come in today since I was tasked to make another illustration for Pride--Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga was quite a challenge since I had to look for a reference picture that was actually doable because we all know that Lady Gaga’s outfits are always so extravagant. I finally found one and again, I’m so glad it turned out good! It also feels so good to receive a compliment from Sir Jay, our supervisor, that what we did are really nice. Alice, on the other hand, illustrated Neil Patrick Harris and Caitlyn Jenner. The final output was inspired by Andy Warhol’s pop art, so it’s a grid of four photos with different people in it but all of them are LGBT Icons. It’s also nice working in an environment that supports LGBT. So after I posted it on Instagram (since I’m the one assigned to handle Mindfuse’s social media accounts), we were told that Creative Wednesdays are a thing in Mindfuse. Here, we share things related to art or design such as trends, strategies, and more. This week, we were assigned to present ours so we researched and ended up choosing strategies as our topic for this week. Let’s see how tomorrow will go!

---

June 27, 2018 (Wednesday)

What. A. Dragging. Day. Today. Was. I woke up today with a heavy feeling that today will not be a very productive day for me since I was already feeling the creative block. We were also told that we could come in later than usual if we wanted to, so that was another challenge I had to face since it was very tempting. I still went on time, though. Yay me. But as I sat down on my chair and faced my laptop, I just knew my mind was not going to function well today. I literally had to force myself to start working because I really was not feeling it today. We were just tasked to start on Mindfuse’s final website layout (which by the way, the layouts we did last week weren’t used, at all.) On the bright (kind of?) side though, I learned that the new Photoshop CC 2018 has artboards and it’s so fun to use because I no longer have to switch Photoshop tabs nor unhide-hide layers to check other pages! Also, I can export them altogether by using the artboards! I’m so amazed. We’re not sure if we’re working at the office tomorrow since Sir Jay was not feeling so well today, so let’s see!

---

June 28, 2018 (Thursday)

I woke up to a text saying that we can work from home today. Yay? We were sent our tasks on Slack and we were just told to continue doing the portfolio of Mindfuse until tomorrow since we’re also working from home. I am still honestly lost with what we’re going to do; if it’s just dragging and dropping of images or if it’s much more than that. We were supposed to shoot this week for Mindfuse’s portfolio, but unfortunately, with all the other tasks given to us, we were not able to shoot a single thing. We had a shoot planned today at the office but with working at home, it’s obviously just not feasible. So, I really don’t know what to put in it just yet. I do have progress though, I’ve started planning the order of images and color palettes to be used for the company (clients) assigned to me. I’ve planned to do the actual layout tomorrow so there’s something to do. It saddens me that this (having to work at home, creative blocks etc.) is happening, but I have to keep pushing myself up and reminding myself that Mindfuse is the type of company I want C+B (my freelance business for now with my best friend) to become in the future, when we finally fix our papers and register our business in SEC.

---

June 29, 2018 (Friday)

Another day to work at home. At this point, I’m honestly so confused with what we’re supposed to do because apparently, I am now assigned to work with the client page of The Gorgeous Mess, and no longer Farm, Inc. The Gorgeous Mess was originally assigned to another intern but today, it was given to me. So basically, everything I’ve work for Farm, Inc. is about to be put to waste (unless it’s given as a task, again). It’s sad and frustrating. So all I’ve done today was a three second animation and a sample layout for the EDM (E-mail Digital Marketing). We’re halfway done with our internship and I’m having mixed feelings about it already. Half of me already wants it to be over and the other half still wants to keep on going. I just really wish we get to the good stuff before we complete our hours. I hope next week would be more productive than the past few weeks because I’m really itching to already have something to really share about my OJT-Company. I’m still waiting for that moment I’ll remember forever from my OJT experience.

[digitalchloe]

Week 1 (June 13 to 22, 2018)

June 13, 2018 (Monday)

First day at work! It was such a gloomy day today but I managed to get to the area an hour before and I was able to eat breakfast before heading to the office. We were first given the orientation for the whole internship then we were given our first assignment -- to fix the social media calendar of Mindfuse. We are currently assigned to do their online marketing posts for Facebook and Instagram. I was a bit uneasy with Sir Jay watching me edit and illustrate, and talking to me while at it since I’m not used to that kind of set up, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it! Overall, it was a fun first day at work and I can’t wait for the succeeding days at Mindfuse.

---

June 14, 2018 (Thursday)

We had to work at home today. Alice and I met in Gateway since we had to buy materials for the shoot which was really scheduled for today. I was honestly devastated when I learned that we had to work from home today. I was really excited to do my first shoot for the company inside the office! After Alice and I bought the materials we needed and got food, we then proceeded to my house and conducted the shoot--it was honestly something I was already used to; nothing new to me. It’s something I am very comfortable doing inside my own house. I wanted a challenge; a new location to shoot in. But there’s always next time! After shooting, we updated the feed guide for Instagram again since we were not able to shoot for the next few posts for the weekend. Overall, today was tiring since we had a hard time deciding on what posts would substitute the posts for the upcoming weekend. I hope we’re going to work on Monday, though.

---

June 18, 2018 (Monday)

I thought I was going to be late today since I still had to rush my dog to the vet before work started, but I still managed to arrive on time! Yay! Today, Sir Jay gave us a lecture on Branding & Identity, as well as the process to create a brand. We were assigned to revamp the website of Mindfuse and I can say that I am extremely stoked! Together with the task are things like editing, shooting, and other things that I am very passionate about. We also started shooting for other marketing materials for Mindfuse’s social media accounts. We had a long weekend prior to today and I was so scared that my brain wouldn’t be able to function correctly due to creative block. It wasn’t until after I was able to eat lunch that I was able to get my brain to work properly though. Lola also visited me and gave me merienda because she went to Cubao today. Overall, today was a great day at work! Looking forward to tomorrow and the rest of the week because the fun for internship is finally starting!

---

June 19, 2018 (Tuesday)

What a day at work! We were taught new stuff about website design and development. How exciting! We were also given a new task: to work on Mindfuse’s website content. We learned how to do content mapping and to be honest, it is still so confusing to do. Being able to encounter new terms about the design world was very exciting too. Learning new things is one of my favorite things in this world. Another favorite thing of mine is eating at Jollibee! I was so excited for lunch because Sir Jay already announced that he wanted to eat there for lunch, and we did. So after lunch, we all went back to work. Alice and I spent the rest of the afternoon researching on things such as positioning, branding and identity, brand strategy, brand bibles, and so much more. It was actually a very draining day because we had to make our brains really work for us to be able to map and plot the content properly. Otherwise, it just wouldn’t make sense! I was just really excited to go home and sleep because my brain won’t work properly anymore. I hope tomorrow will be a more productive day.

---

June 20, 2018 (Wednesday)

We have a new intern that just came in today! She’s actually our batchmate but from the Communications Department of MC. She was assigned to be part of our team for the duration of the internship, so we had to brief her with the tasks currently on our hands. We spent the rest of the morning trying to finish the content map but we couldn’t just understand it, so Sir Jay just told us to fill in what we could and he’ll help us with it in the afternoon.. For lunch, Sir Jay ordered pizza for everyone for lunch! Yay for free food! We were given time after lunch to go out and buy more food if we wanted to, so we did go down and we bought Coco Milktea, MY FAVORITE.  We also bought cartolina for our next shoot scheduled after lunch. When we got back, we went straight to the shoot. It was a back to school shoot-turned- work essentials shoot. It was fun! Editing it was fun as well because I looooove editing colors. Afterwards, we went on with the content mapping and finally got the hang of it! We finally finished the day off at work but then it was raining so hard that we all couldn’t leave, so all the interns, including us, decided to play Rules of Survival while waiting for the rain to stop. It was a fun day, especially finally being able to bond with the other interns from Benilde. Looking forward to tomorrow since we’re going to plan next week’s production schedule! Yay!

---

June 21, 2018 (Thursday)

I’m going to be honest and say that today was a lazy day at the office. We had a very chill day and we even had KFC delivered for lunch because we were all so lazy to head down and get food for lunch. Nevertheless, I made it a point to still be productive today. I helped Sir Jay with his studies for the website of Rockwell Atletica. He asked me to layer mask a few of them. That was the first time my layer masking skills were put to the test. It was scary and fun at the same time mainly because it’s a huge company I’m editing for. Things like those still feel so surreal to me.  Even after a week and a half working for Mindfuse, it still feels so surreal to me that this company, with HUGE clients such as Rockwell, Vista Cinemas, etc. accepted me as an intern. I make it a point to grab every opportunity this internship gives me.  Afterwards,  together with the other MC interns, we finished the content mapping in Google Sheets for Mindfuse’s website. It is so hard to visualize a website just in your head, so I have a feeling that we put so much unnecessary things there. We’ll find out tomorrow!

---

June 22, 2018 (Friday)

Worked at home again today and did some website layouts for the Mindfuse portfolio page. It was actually a challenge since we weren’t shown the revamped version of the website so I didn’t know whether or not I was doing the right layout per page for the clients. It was also hard thinking about the positioning of text and images since I wasn’t entirely sure if they were fit for the page or not. Nevertheless, I was happy to be able to put my web design skills (from ARTV-112!) to good use and was able to come out with layouts that are, in my opinion, appealing to the eye. I hope we have less work-from-home days. It really gets me out of the mood since I’m just on my bed. Looking forward to next week’s shoot with Rockwell Atletica! Finally a chance to put my photography skills to the test.